•Thursday, July 07, 2016
出发欧洲前，法国似乎一片混乱。机场控制人员举行罢工，法航机师也誓言在欧洲杯足球赛期间罢工。这是在一连串巴黎垃圾清理人员、火车员工、炼油厂人员罢工后，劳资双方出现的再一次拉锯战。因为这次罢工，我在出发前战战兢兢，担心航班受影响，更担心巴黎转机到西班牙时，会遇到问题，滞留巴黎。
还好最后一切顺利，我的行程没受影响。倒是在巴塞罗那前往蒙特塞拉特山（Montserrat）时，才赫然发现缆车人员进行罢工，顿觉扫兴。W 说，欢迎来到欧洲。在欧洲，罢工似乎是家常便饭，更是欧洲人文化中的一种必然存在。来自岛国的我，算是见识到了罢工带来的种种不便。在西方人眼里，这或许就是所谓的民主人权，每个人都有权利发表自己的看法，以行动表示自己的不满。在过程中就算带给他人诸多不便，也在所不惜。
回新后我邀英国朋友 M 和巴西朋友 L 到家做客，闲聊中我们提及最近的英国脱欧事件。M 向来崇尚民主，认为岛国是个不民主的国家。我调侃 M 说：你看吧，你所谓的民主，让英国脱欧了！我一向认为，民主是公平的，但民主未必会带来最理想的效果。全民投票，选民或因情绪左右，或因知识水平不够，而做出不顾大局的决定。一般老百姓追求的其实不过只是生活安逸，但投票却未必能达到最完美结果。 如果可以选择，L 说他希望巴西的混乱政局，也能通过岛国的一些管制，改变现状。
当然，我不是说岛国政治体系至臻完美，因为世界上根本没有完美政治制度。我只是觉得当外国人抨击我国政治不够民主，独裁专制的时候，必须考虑他们所谓的民主，是否会为国家带来最多的利益。就像欧洲罢工，你说是尊重人权吧，但它造成的负面经济效应，甚至是差强人意的国家印象，是民主自由能够掩盖的吗？
接下来的美国总统选举，将会是个有趣的发展。如果在一般人都认为特朗普将让美国倒退的情况下，他依然当选，那民主肯定是胜利了，但输家或许是美国和全世界。
得尔
2 comments:
Interesting insights.
Don't you think that while it sounds compelling to note that most just want a peaceful and uneventful life, that if that non-aspirational mode had been that case, that most of the world today would still be serfdoms? Although one could arguably philosophically said that we're not that different from serfdoms, I do think I'm grateful to those who fought and believed in a different from status quo future back then, esp when it shd be stark to most that it would meant short-term extreme pain? Short-term here is of course loosely-used, because it could well be the rest of their lives, but in the scheme of things, it is short. I'm glad I'm not a serf, I'm as a girl that I'd equal access to opportunities though the discrimination thereafter continues, and had I been born in Western Europe, glad too that it broke away from the then-corrupt church. And I propose that it was good for the church as well - a wake-up call, and possibly leading to reforms.
EU, as it stands now, is a very different creature from the beginning. And it's not like there'd been no efforts in mooting for reforms from within, but that the bureaucracy takes on a life of its own and is impervious and not accountable. It's fundamentally an undemocratic construct that had encroached on far too many aspects for which had to be in the domain of the popularly elected authority for accountability purposes.
Anyway, even if the Brits did not make the choice, remember Grexit, etc? It's only a matter of time that it would fall apart, at a much greater cost. One could then say that a wise man would wait for it to unfold that way, so as not to bear the brunt of it. Just as one would say that had the government or the civil service in UK been stronger, they would have planned it with shadow agencies working on trade negotiation skills, etc. But one sometimes have to play with the cards one has been dealt with.
I'd started off assuming, as with most in our crowds and outside of the region, highly influenced by the powerful big businesses and intellectuals, that surely leaving is insane. But I'd begun to listen, closer to the lead-up, when some Brits whom I respected thought otherwise - and in hearing them out, theirs were much more considered than those safety-in-numbers, we-are-all-ppl arguments put out by people whom I too hold in high regard. Folks like us are global with relatively more room to maneuver, but as a nation, you do need to think about the ones amongst you who are not, and decide where your loyalties lie.
I don't know how I'd have voted had I been in the situation. I tend to be with the old man on this, much as I believe and root for supra-national agencies to foster closer ties for humanity.
But the backlash, the intellectual arrogance of those who misread the situation and their continued refusal to see and to try bully the rest into submission, is perhaps what's most off-putting now.
We can agree to disagree, even on the big things, but to then stoop to name-calling and bullying is just too ugly and discredits oneself - I've finally stopped reading The Guardian after having been on it for the last 25 years.
Thanks for your insights! Yes - I do agree that Briexit may eventually not be a bad thing for UK. What I strongly feel is that democracy may not bring the best results. That are just too many criticisms about Singapore, and how true democracy should be. There is no Utopia and no perfect system!